Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction & Betting Tips 8/1/2024

Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals Preview

At 8:05 PM ET, the Cardinals and Cubs face off in an NL Central matchup. This one is being played at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the Cubs are the slight money line favorite (-115). The money line odds for the Cardinals are sitting at -104.

Thursday’s forecast in Chicago calls for overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-80s. Sonny Gray will start for the Cardinals, and the Cubs will have Shota Imanaga on the mound. St. Louis is currently on a two-game winning streak, and they are 2nd in the NL Central, while the Cubs are 5th at 52-58.

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Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Trends and Key Stats

• Across their last five road games, the Cardinals are 3-2. This includes going 4-1 vs. the runline.
• On the opposing side, the Cubs have a 3-2 (SU) record, along with a 3-2 record in their last five home contests.
• In their previous ten games, the Cardinals have recorded a 4-6 record as the favorite, while they have a 5-5 record as the underdog.
• In their last ten games, the Cubs have a record of 4-6 as the favorite and 5-5 as the underdog.

Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction

The Cardinals’s offense was hot right out of the gates in their most recent game vs. the Rangers, closing out their series with a 10-1 win. After allowing one run to the Rangers in the top of the first, the Cardinals responded with three runs of their own. St. Louis went on to add another seven runs in the 2nd inning!

Michael McGreevy put together a good start for the Cardinals, going seven innings and giving up just one earned run, and picking up the win. St. Louis’s offense was carried by Tommy Pham, who went 3/4 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. The Cardinals also had three other players with two hits.

St. Louis is 56-52 overall this season, and they are five games behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead. The Cardinals are 16-16 in divisional games this season. They head into today’s game on a two-game winning streak and closed out their series with the Rangers with a win.

At home, the Cardinals have gone 29-25 this season, and they are an even 27-27 on the road. As the favorite, the Cardinals are 29-26 this season, and they are 27-26 as the underdog. So far, they have been 10-7 as the favorite on the road. St. Louis’ overall series record is 17-14-3, and they have gone 5-5 in their last 10 games.

When betting on the Cardinals’ run line, it’s best to take them as the underdog, as they are 35-18 against the run line in those games. They are 27-27 against the run line on the road and 27-27 against the run line at home. Their average run differential in winning games is +2.7, while their average run differential in losing games is -3.6.

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the road today to face the Chicago Cubs in a game with an over/under line of 8 runs. The combined run average in Cardinals games this season is 8.7, and their over/under record is 52-53. The average over/under line in their games is 8 runs, and their record when the line is exactly 8 runs is 7-11-1. St. Louis has played in 63 games with over/under lines set higher than 8 runs, which accounts for 58.3% of their games. They have played in 26 games with over/under lines set lower than 8 runs, which accounts for 24.1% of their games. The over has hit in each of their last three games.

Sonny Gray gets the start for the Cardinals today as he faces the Cubs on the road. He has made 19 starts this season and has a record of 10-6 with an ERA of 3.79. Gray’s WHIP for the season is currently 1.10. In his 19 appearances, he has turned in eight quality starts and is averaging 11.12 strikeouts per nine innings. Gray’s last outing came on July 26th, where he finished with a no-decision, giving up five earned runs in five innings of work. Before that outing, he had won two straight starts.

Paul Goldschmidt has been swinging a hot bat for the Cardinals, going 12/38 in his last 10 games with three homers and four RBIs. Overall, he is batting .264 with a team-high 18 homers. Alec Burleson is also near the top of the league in RBIs, as his 63 are 14th in the MLB.

St. Louis comes into the game averaging 4.2 runs per game, which is 21st in the majors. They have been a little better at home, averaging 4.4 runs per game. As a team, they are batting .247, which is 10th in the league.

The Cubs’s offense was hot right out of the gates in their most recent game vs. the Reds, closing out their series with a 13-4 win. After allowing one run to the Reds in the 2nd inning, the Cubs responded with two runs of their own. Chicago went on to add another four runs in the 3rd inning.

Starting for the Cubs was Kyle Hendricks, who picked up the win. He went five innings, giving up three earned runs, and issued two walks. The Cubs’s offense was carried by Ian Happ, who went json”>3/4 with a homer and three RBIs.

Chicago is 52-58 overall, putting them 5th in the NL Central, 10 games behind the Brewers for the division lead. The Cubs’ overall record is 14 games under .500, and they are 14-25 against other teams in the NL Central.

At home, the Cubs are 27-25 this season and 25-33 on the road. They have dropped two straight games at home. As the underdog, the Cubs are 29-31 this season, and they are 23-27 when favored. Chicago’s overall series record is 12-19-3, and they lost two straight series at home.

Chicago has been a solid run line bet on the road this season, going 34-24, but they have struggled at home, going just 19-33. They have lost two straight at home against the run line, but they have covered in three straight games as the underdog. The Cubs have been a much better run line bet as the underdog this season, going 40-20, compared to just 13-37 as the favorite.

Today’s over/under line of 8 runs for the Chicago Cubs’ game against the St. Louis Cardinals is right in line with their season average of 8.4 runs per game. The Cubs have gone over the total in 46 of their 106 games this season, and their over/under record when the line is set at 8 runs is just 4-14-1.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga gets the start for the Cubs today as he faces the Cardinals at home. He has made 19 starts this season and has a record of 8-2 with a 2.95 ERA. Imanaga’s WHIP for the season is currently 1.07. In his 19 appearances, he has turned in 12 quality starts. Looking back at his last outing, Imanaga finished with a no-decision after giving up three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work. He has not taken a loss since June 24th. The last time he lost at home was on May 29th.

So far this season, the Cubs offense is averaging just 4.2 runs per game, which is 23rd in the league. They have been even worse at home, averaging just 4 runs per contest. Overall, they are 21st in home runs and have a team batting average of .234. Chicago has been good at drawing walks this season and has the 6th fewest strikeouts in the league.

Over his last 10 games, Ian Happ has gone just 8/39, but he does have two homers and six runs scored in that stretch. For the season, he is the Cubs’ leader in homers (17) and RBIs (62). Isaac Paredes is 2nd on the team in RBIs and has 16 homers, which is 15th in the league. Seiya Suzuki has also been swinging a hot bat of late, going 12/39 in his last 10 games.

With the Cardinals going off at -104 on the money line, that is the direction we recommend going for today’s Cardinals vs. Cubs matchup. Our predicted final score is 5-4 in favor of the Cardinals, giving us some nice value on the money line.

Looking at the starting pitchers, we have Sonny Gray finishing with seven strikeouts, which is the highest projection among all starters. As for the Cubs’ starter, Shota Imanaga, we have him finishing with six strikeouts, which is fifth among all starters.

Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals Betting Tips

• We like the Cardinals on the moneyline (-104)
• The Cardinals are also our pick on the spread at -1.5
• Projecting a combined 9 runs, we like the over

Chicago Cubs Injury Report

St. Louis Cardinals Injury Report